Chapter 8: Getting in Tune with the Universe

In one of the Sutras of Patanjali, we are
told that God is Pranava or Omkara, by which significant symbol God's presence,
Isvara's existence, can be invoked in meditation – Tasya
vachakah pranavah. The great mystical symbol Om is well known in all
religious circles and mystical organisations. It is known as Omkara, generally
speaking; otherwise, as Pranava. We chant Om in the beginning, as well as
towards the conclusion, of any worship, Satsanga or prayer meeting. This is
considered auspicious. Omkara, we are told, is the best connotation of God's
characteristics, and God is most effectively invoked in this divine symbol or
mark.

One has to be able to appreciate the deep
meaning hidden behind the symbol Pranava in order that one may utilise it
successfully in meditation. God is omnipresence, all-pervading completeness.
And a name of God, therefore, should have some similarity to the nature of God
Himself. A name designates a form. In India, particularly, the name of a person
is supposed to be a description of the characteristics of that person. The idea
is that a name is a word-symbol or a sound-symbol of a form which it connotes
or denotes. So much so, the utterance of a word or a name brings into one's
consciousness or mind the form which it is supposed to indicate or designate.
Every particular form, personality or thing in this world has a name attached
to it. Besides name and form, we also have an idea of the form. So, we have
these three components of internal cognition and external perception, namely,
sound, idea and form.

The name designates a form. Every finite
object has a name corresponding to it in this world, and therefore, the name
also is finite in its descriptive capacity. We may carry this name and form
relationship to its logical limits and bring to our consciousness the supreme
idea of a universal name to connote the universal form. God is universal
existence, or we may say, the universal form for all practical purposes of our
conception. Whatever may be our notion of God, it has to be acceded that the
term God signifies something which is everywhere, infinite and unbounded. Therefore,
to designate such a mighty Being which is infinite, without limits of space or
time, we must have a word-symbol which absorbs into itself every other
language-symbol or word-symbol, available in the world.

A
Complete Symbol to Connote the Universal Form

There are letters in the alphabet in every
language. And these letters are uttered by the functioning of certain parts of
the sound-box or the vocal organ. When a particular letter is uttered, some
part of the sound-box begins to vibrate, and the particular sound corresponding
to that letter is produced. When a particular word or name is uttered, the
sound so produced by the vocal organ is supposed to connote the object
corresponding to that name. God being universality, His name also should have a
universal comprehensiveness. This is the idea behind the teaching that Om is
the name of God.

The recitation or the chanting or the
pronunciation of Om involves such an operation of the vocal organ that the
whole apparatus is set in motion. This is something which has to be examined
carefully, each for oneself, either experimentally or by inward investigative
perception. Right from the root up to the topmost and outermost part of the
vocal organ, everything begins to vibrate when Om is chanted. Hence, Om can thus
be regarded as a sound which includes every other sound. And, language is
nothing but sound. Hence, in a sense, every language is invoked when Om is
chanted. Whether it is Sanskrit, English or Arabic, it makes no difference.
Inasmuch as all languages are only expressions of certain sounds or sound
formulations, and inasmuch as sound production is complete in the utterance of
Om, we may safely say that Om is a complete symbol, a super-linguistic symbol,
as it were, which does not belong to any language. Om belongs neither to
Sanskrit nor to any other tongue. It is an impersonal vibration that is set up
by the sound-box or the vocal organ within us. Hence, the completeness that
characterises the production of this impersonal sound called Om is what makes it
the most appropriate designation of God, the Universality. When we chant Om, we
ourselves will feel a kind of transformation taking place within us; but, to
experience this, we should chant Om with a concentrated feeling and not like a
mechanical routine.

Om
Chanting and Its Benefits

The scriptures dealing with the subject of
Nada tell us that there are many varieties in the pronunciation or chant of Om.
Upanishads, such as the Prasna Upanishad, speak of three types of Intonation in
the chanting of Om, as a Mantra or as an invocation of Divinity – the short, the
middling and the elongated. The different types of chanting of Om produce
different effects, too. The Upanishad goes to the extent of telling us that a
continued practice of this recitation of Om, as a Sadhana by itself, can take
the seeker to higher regions, even up to Brahma-Loka itself. The short
modulation of Om is somewhat like this: "O..m, O..m, O..m". The middling chant
is a little longer: "0....m, 0....m, 0....m". The elongated chant of Om, known
as the Dhirga Pranava, is longer still: "0.......m, 0.......m, 0.......m". In
any of these chants, the sound can be seen to taper off gradually into thinner
and thinner vibrations. It is the recognition of a system of Yoga, called Nada
Yoga, that the sound actually starts from the region of the navel, where it has
its root, and gradually rises up into more and more audible forms, until it is
expressed through the physical sound-box and the lips, the tongue, and the
mouth. These various stages of the manifestation or the development of sound,
right from the navel onwards, are known in Sanskrit as Para, Pasyanti, Madhyama
and Vaikhari. Para is a soundless seed, as it were, the very possibility of the
production of sound. Pasyanti is a little more pronounced. And the more
intensified form is Madhyama; and the audible manifestation of it is Vaikhari.
Often, these stages are identified, in the cosmical context, with the four
metaphysical realities advanced in the Vedanta Philosophy, namely Brahma,
Isvara, Hiranyagarbha and Virat. We may identify the four stages of sound with
other quartets also of the cosmological process.

When we chant Om in the proper manner, we
set up an all-comprehensive, all-inclusive vibration in our system. By chanting
Om, we do not create a jarring sound, but a harmonious sound which creeps into
the entire nervous system slowly and soothingly. It is as if we smear all the
ramifications of nerves with honey. In contrast, ordinary cries and shouts are
distracting. The nerves are violently disturbed, kicked up, by cries and shouts
which are Rajasic in nature. Whereas a very harmonious, all-inclusive sound
like an Om chant, is Sattvic in its nature. It sets up an all-inclusive
vibration in the whole nervous system and in the Pranas that flow through the
nerves. It is almost like administering a gentle massage to the whole system of
nerves and Pranas. The Pranas feel satisfied and one feels happy as a
consequence. One has only to practise this Om chanting everyday for ten or
fifteen minutes to see what a difference it makes to one's well-being. The
person who practises Om chanting regularly will soon become a calm, sober and
controlled person.... automatically. He will not fly into a fit of rage, anger
or outburst of any kind, because of the daily massage that he gives to the
nerves and the Pranas in a very, very affectionate manner through Om chanting.
The harmonious vibration that is set up in the system has an effect upon the
muscles, the nerves, and the Pranas, and finally upon the mind itself – because,
all these are interconnected.

Setting
Ourselves in Tune with the Cosmic Vibration

The Om that we speak of is not merely a
sound in the ordinary sense. It is not some noise that we make. Om appears to
be a sound only in its outermost expression, in its Vaikhari form, but in its
internal structure, it has a deeper relationship with things. The whole
universe is vibration ultimately, and not made up of objects, segregated from
one another. Modern science tells us today that the whole universe is energy.
There are no objects. There are no brick walls. There is not even the sun, moon
and stars. There is only a continuum of equilibrated, spread-out energy
everywhere, a four-dimensional continuum, they say. What is all this but a
vibration that they are speaking of? The universe originated from a vibration,
The terms Nada, Bindu and Kala which one hears of in Tantric and Hatha Yoga
circles are only certain ways of mentioning the same process of the
manifestation of this original impersonal vibration gradually solidifying
itself, condensing more and more into concrete forms of visible objects, bodies
and personalities. So, the universe is a vibration, and not a bundle of things,
persons and objects. In the ultimate analysis, the universe does not exist at
all as it appears to our eyes; because, ultimately, in the Samadhi state, it
vanishes like a dream. And great scientists today have gone even to that
farthest limit of saying that the world is only a thought. It is not even a
vibration in any externalised manner. The vibrations are only mathematical
concepts. A terrifying conclusion, indeed, for a person who cannot understand
what all these mean! Om is cosmic essentially, and it is not merely a sound
produced through the mouth. The so-called sound that the Yoga student
manifests, through his vocal organs as the chant of Om, is only an attempt on
his part to set himself in tune with the cosmic vibration that is already
there, even before he was born into this world.

All Yoga is nothing but an endeavour, on
our part, to set ourselves in tune with things as they really are. In Yoga, we
do not try to modify things, or change things, in any way whatsoever.
Everything is perfect and all right in itself. The creation of God is complete
in every minute detail. It does not require any change. But, the change is
required on our side, because we are distracted individuals, completely severed
from this harmony of the Whole; and, divinity, spirituality, religion, Yoga,
whatever they may call it, is nothing but the art of our self-attunement with
this universal set-up of things. By the chant of Om, we put forth an effort to
subdue the distractions of our mind and nerves and our entire personality. The
whole personality of the individual normally tries to run away from Reality. We
are every minute running away from God in our perceptions of things and in our
desires especially. And this running away is visible in the interest that we
take in the forms external, believing that everything is different from
everything else, so that we have got particularised ideals and ideologies and
interests in respect of different persons and things. This externalising habit
of the mind is restrained gradually by various methods. And all these methods
constitute Yoga. And one method, among the many, is the chanting of Om.

The universe includes us. We are not
outside it. So, in our chant of Om, we try only to set up a vibration within
ourselves, at the root of our personality, a vibration corresponding to that
which is already there in the universe outside, so that in a very accurate
pronunciation of Om, deeply conducted with profound feeling, we become one with
all things for a second, as it were. That is why we feel such a joy. Joy is the
outcome of unity with objects, and when we are outside them, we are in grief.
So, we feel a sensation of identity of ourselves with the subliminal realities
at the back of all things by this profound and feelingful chant of Om that we
have to conduct everyday, for a protracted period, as a very regular Sadhana,
as a very essential part of our Sadhana.

Tasya vuchakuh
pranavah: This is a small Sutra of Patanjali. It
means that the designation of God or Isvara is Pranava or Om. In another Sutra,
Patanjali says: Tajjapas tad-artha-bhavanam.
The contemplation of the meaning of Om is to follow the chant of Om. When we
recite or chant Om, it does not mean that our mind will be remaining idle. No,
it concentrates itself: it feels the presence of a harmony with the whole
universe. One can do Japa of Om itself in any of the forms mentioned. It is the
highest of Mantras, and all the Mantras are included in Om: all languages
themselves are inside Om. So, in one place, the great author says that when we
go deep, very deep into the structure of sound, we may be able to know every
language in the world, even the languages of animals and birds. These are all
very difficult to achieve, but not impossible, if we are persistent and are
able to go beneath the level of our outer, physical and psychic personality.

Concentration
on an Object of Our Liking

That concentration of the mind can be
conducted, and has to be conducted in various ways, is a repeated instruction
of Patanjali. One should not go on taking to one method only right from the
beginning, because it is possible that the mind may get tired. So, as a very,
very compassionate mother speaking to a child which does not want to go to
school, and which resents any kind of educational step, Patanjali tells us that
we may concentrate our mind on anything that we like, on anything that is
pleasing to us, that attracts us. The object of concentration may be even a
cow, the only property that a person may have, whose milk sustains him, without
which he cannot exist. He goes on thinking of his cow. Even that cow is a fit
object of concentration for him.

A devotee went to see Sri Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa and requested to be initiated into meditation. "What is it that you
love most?" asked the great master. The devotee thought for a while and said
finally: "Well, I have my granddaughter. I am always thinking of her". "Well,
meditate on your granddaughter" advised Sri Ramakrishna, "There is nothing else
that you can do at this time... For you, meditation on your granddaughter is a
Yoga practice by itself". There is a lesson in this. To wrench oneself or try
to wrench oneself from that in which one's mind is stuck, would be like trying
to peel one's skin, which is not possible and which is not advisable also. The
person who tries so may go crazy one day. So, one should not be too anxious
about Yoga, and one should not try to be too pious a man or too holy a man,
when his mind is not prepared for that at the particular stage of evolution in
which he may be. "Go slowly" is a good rule in Yoga practice.

Sthiti-nibandhini, says Patanjali. This is something very pertinent to the mental
condition of a beginner in Yoga. When the mind is grossly concentrated or fixed
upon some external object of perception for some reason or the other, a
psycho-analytical study of this connection has to be conducted with the help of
a teacher, and then the mind has to be withdrawn from that object gradually. It
is not possible to run away suddenly from that which one loves deeply in one's
heart. Otherwise, one might go mad. So, the Guru's instructions, advice, or
personal guidance is again necessary here, when the Yoga practitioner is
drowned, as it were, in a state of emotion, which he feels is something
undesirable, but from which he cannot extricate himself.

If a person is fond of tea, it is better to
drink tea than take to sudden austerities and say, "I drink only cow's milk".
As long as the desire to drink tea is there, tea should not be cut off. It is
better for the person to continue with tea for three months, or even one year,
until he is able to understand that something better is there. Smoking is a
wretched thing, but even smoking cannot be cut off suddenly. Many wretched
things may be there in the world, but how can anyone run away from them when
one is in them?

Vishayavati va pravrittir utpanna manasah
sthiti-nibandhini: A very interesting instruction
is contained in this Sutra of Patanjali, an instruction which cannot be found
in many other Yoga texts. Mind can be tied down to concentration even by
thinking of an object which a person loves most. That is the essence of the
meaning of the above Sutra. We do not enjoy the objects of the world in order
that we may indulge in them forever. The purpose of enjoyment of things is to
get control over them, and to transcend them finally. The idea behind any kind
of relationship in this world is not to perpetuate that relationship, but to
free oneself from that relationship through that relationship itself, like the
action of a homeopathic medicine. That which is going to kill can also save,
provided the drug is administered in the proper proportion and in a particular
manner. In fact, the whole of the Tantra Sastra can be summed up in one
sentence: "That which can make you fall, can also make you rise". But this is a
very difficult thing to understand, and here again, comes the repeated
injunction that the student of Yoga has to be with his Guru all the time.

The mind can be concentrated on that object
which we adore as the most divine of things: Vita-raga-vishayam va chittam.
When we think of great minds like Vyasa, Vasishtha, Krishna, Rama, Suka-Deva,
or Dattatreya, our mind is transported into a mood of intense spirituality and
holiness. The very remembrance of these great Masters brings our mind into
concentration in the required manner. The emotions of the mind get stimulated
in particular directions, depending upon the objects on which the mind may
concentrate. The thought of a policeman may swing the mind in one direction,
while the thought of a Chief Justice may sway it in another direction.
Remembrance of Hitler and Gandhi may evoke totally different moods in the mind.
Different ideas stir up different types of emotion, on account of the
association of those ideas with particular objects and their characteristics.
This being so, if we think of great sages, or of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, or if
we meditate on the Father in Heaven, the Almighty Creator, we will be shaken by
our roots at the very thought of the Almighty. So, Vita-raga-vishayam.
Any object that can stimulate in our feelings a concentration on desirelessness,
consequent upon inclusiveness and holiness due to spirituality, will be an aid.

Concentration on Dream Experiences

Svapna-nidra-jnanalambanam
va is another Sutra whose meaning is a little
difficult to understand. We can concentrate on dream, or the effects of sleep,
or anything that hangs upon them, says this Sutra in a very pithy manner; and
the meaning of the Sutra will not be very clear merely by a grammatical
translation. Literally speaking, we may take it as a sort of attempt at concentration
on things which we saw in dream and which we liked most. A person might have
become Emperor Akbar in dream. It is a very happy thing. At the time he dreamt,
he must have felt very happy. That person can go on thinking, "I am Akbar! I am
Akbar!" That thought might produce an elevation of spirit, and a certain
concentration, because of the affection and love entertained for that
particular status of emperor. Or, one might have had a vision, a superb and
very absorbing vision. One might have seen his Guru in his dream. Or he might
have seen his Deity, his Ishta Devata in dream. The happiness of the vision
might continue to persist in the waking state: "Oh, how happy I am! I saw my
Deity, Ishta Devata, yesterday in my dream". True, the dream is over, but one
can collect one's mind back. One can try to re-live the dream experience, so to
say. "Yesterday what I dreamt was very beautiful. It was Lord Krishna. He
appeared to me in such and such a way. Oh, how beautiful, how grand, how
absorbing!" One can go on recapitulating. The mind will be happy. In this way,
the objects that one sees in dream, which are pleasant to concentrate upon, can
be taken as aids in one's meditation in the waking state as well. But, the
deeper, philosophical meaning of it all is that the whole world is a dream. The
world should be thought of as a dream, and not as a real object. The world is
as real as a dream, and as unreal as that. Is our dream world real or unreal?
It is real as long as it is experienced, and it is unreal when it is not
experienced. So is this world. It is comparable to the manifestations of the
mind in dream. The space, time, causation and the particularities that one sees
in the dream world, including oneself as the dream subject, are all the drama
enacted by one's own mind as a trick. Sometimes, one is pursued by a tiger in
dream. The person runs and climbs a tree for fear of the pursuing tiger. This
tiger is manufactured by the mind of the dreamer; the running process also is
an action of the mind. The dream person who runs for fear of the tiger is a
production of the mind. The tree which he climbs is also made by the mind only.
Even the distance of space between the tiger and the tree is a creation of the
mind of the dreamer. The whole dream is a mental complex. But yet, to the
dreamer, the dream looks so real that in his dream, he cries in fear of the
terrific beast that pursues him. In fact he may fall down from the tree and
break his leg in his dream. He may feel the consequent pain also. The dream is
so vivid that even on waking up, he sees if his leg is all right. He looks at
it again. It is all right, thank God. His leg is not really broken!

Similarly, in this world, time, space and
objects are all productions of a single universal mind, and therefore, this world
does not exist to that universal mind in the same way as the dream world does
not exist for the dreamer. So, there is something superb and transcendent and
beyond this world, on which we have to concentrate in order to wake up from
this world-dream. We are still sleeping, compared to another waking which is
cosmical or universal in its nature. Contemplation along these lines will help
us a great deal in the Yoga Path.

A
Medical Treatment to the Sickness of the Soul of Man

The system of Patanjali is often called the
Ashtanga Yoga. This is the usual name by which it is known. Ashtanga Yoga means
the Yoga of eight limbs. Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana,
Dhyana and Samadhi – these are the eight limbs or eight stages of Patanjali's
system. These classifications are very carefully done by the great author. It
is not just a whim and fancy of his mind. One can imagine ten or twelve or
fifteen stages or twenty stages. But why only eight? Patanjali has considered
carefully the process of the evolution of the universe, and also our
involvement in the various evolutionary stages, and thus concluded that eight
would be a proper number of the stages of descent as well as ascent.

This is a highly scientific technique
discovered by sage Patanjali; it is scientific and logical. Because, it has a
direct connection with our daily experiences in life. Every morning, when a
person gets up from bed, there is one kind of waking from one kind of temporal
dream in an individual capacity, but the person's waking experiences also are a
kind of dream only. Our experiences constitute our bondage, and the freedom
from bondage that we are after is nothing but freedom from certain experiences
in the world. A good psychologist will know that we are involved in various
stages in this world of experience. A person may be immersed in the waters of
the Ganga, but when he descends into it, he descends touching the top layer of
water first and the bottom layer last, though it may appear that he has sunk
suddenly. If we have several petals of a rose flower kept one over the other,
and if we pass a needle through them, the needle goes through them so quickly
that it looks as if it does not take any time at all to pierce through. But, in
truth, it does take some time. Surely, it does not go at once through all the
petals. It goes through each of the petals one after another, though it looks
as if it takes no time at all, due to the quickness of the action. Likewise, it
may appear that we are drowned in Samsara wholly, and everything is chaos and a
confusion, and we do not know where we are standing. This is a layman's
perception of things, just as a sick man may say that he is sick, while not
knowing what his sickness is. But a very good biologist or a medical specialist
will know that the man's sickness has come upon him gradually by stages, from
cause to effect. One does not fall sick suddenly. Sickness does not descend
like a bolt from the blue. It is also a gradual manifestation. So, there is a
difference between a specialised scientific approach to matters and a layman's
crude approach. We are laypeople, crude men. We do not understand anything. We
only cry that something is wrong, that everything is at sixes and sevens, that
we are helpless. It is like the sick patient weeping: "I am sick, doctor. Help
me. I don't know what has happened to me". An intelligent examination will
prove that the patient has fallen ill slowly, gradually, stage by stage.
Therefore, the treatment has to be of a similar character, a gradual purging of
the toxic matters of the body, a systematic relieving of the patient's tension
by medicines which the doctor knows how to administer, stage by stage,
everyday, for a protracted period.

So is the practice of Yoga. Yoga is, as it
were, a highly medical treatment to the sickness of the soul of man,
effectively administered by the master-physician Patanjali. We are not drowned
suddenly in Samsara in a chaotic manner, though it is no doubt true that we are
drowned. We have come to this level of suffering slowly, gradually. There is a
coming down from the universal to the particular individual form of ours, and a
greater and further involvement of this particularised individuality of ours in
social relationships, and attachments and aversions. The implications of this
involvement are well known. We live in a society. We are family people. We have
our father and mother. Each one of us is a husband or a wife, a son, a daughter
or a sister. Each one is a boss or a subordinate, or a minister or a peon. The
least of us is something in society. Now, these ideas that everyone has about
himself or herself in the mind are not unimportant things. An individual should
not say that he is a spiritual seeker only and that he has nothing to do with
these ideas. The idea that he is a son or a father cannot leave a person so
easily, though he may be aspiring for God. So, the spiritual seeker should not
be too enthusiastic and certainly not foolhardy. He should exercise his
intelligence. How can a person forget that he is a son to his father? How can
he forget other relationships? And there are so many of them. Likes and
dislikes are there.

Our
Relationship with Human Beings

Our external social relationships have to
be considered first, because above all problems, the social problems are the
most predominant. We have other problems, no doubt. Perhaps they are very deep.
But the social problems are immediate pinpricks which we feel everyday and we
have to get out of them. Everyday, we see people. Well, we see trees also. We
see buildings too. But trees and buildings do not trouble us. The immediate,
palpable pain that we feel is from human beings, not even from tigers and
lions, snakes and scorpions. The latter also can trouble us, but we do not
bother about scorpions and snakes everyday. We bother about human beings only.
Our concern is with human beings primarily, though the world is not made up
only of human beings. So, Patanjali takes his stand, first and foremost, in the
circumstance in which the human being is placed, namely, the social
circumstance. Our conduct, our attitude, our outlook, our duties and
obligations – all these are included in the term "relationship with human beings".
We should be able to move tactfully with people and adjust with them;
otherwise, we will feel like fish out of water. The problem can arise in one of
two ways. Either other people cannot adjust with us or we cannot adjust with
the others. Anyhow, this would be a sorry state of affairs, a dread disease
almost, requiring remedial action. The subject is a difficult one and is
generally extensively discussed in the sociological sciences, in psychology and
psycho-analysis, and even in political science. But, Patanjali has his own way
of looking at things. For him, all these social problems boil down to a few categories.

Our reactions to things are our
relationships. And our reactions evoke return reactions from people in a
corresponding manner. The world is something like a complexity of the
tit-for-tat attitude. Whatever we do to others, that will be done to us. We
cannot escape this situation. Now, we have to be very carefully analytical
about our social position first, before we take to Yoga. It is no use for
anyone to say, "I have left everything, I have nobody, I am all for Yoga". One
should not make such an abrupt statement like that. After all, it may not be
true that a person has nobody to call his own. Somebody may be there – a friend,
a relation. The Yoga student who says outwardly that he has nobody to worry
about will be grieving inwardly about his old mother, or poor father, or
thinking about his boss from whom he has run away due to some fear or
misunderstanding. And then, everyone has other problems personally, connected
with human society.

Patanjali tells us that human problems
arising out of human relations can be called, in a way, the conduct which
people manifest among themselves by way of self-adjustment. The whole of human
society is a large area of co-operation. Society is nothing but a co-operative
complex. Otherwise, we do not call it a society. If in a place there is no
amicable, intelligible, coordinating relationships between one another, we do
not call that a social complex. It can only be described as a chaotic
congregation of individuals. Whenever we form a society or an organisation of
any kind, even if it be a small family by itself, there is inward co-operation
and co-ordination, based on a kind of understanding among the members of that
society or organisation. The understanding arises on account of a common aim
that motivates the individuals forming the organisation, called the family or
the society. If we have no common aim among ourselves, there cannot be any kind
of amicable relationship, and we cannot form a society. We cannot be members of
a single family if such understanding is absent. When we work together as
friends, there is always a common purpose to serve. If three people have a
common purpose, then the three of them become friends. If a hundred or a
thousand people, or ten thousand people, have a common purpose, they become
friends; why, they become a party, a society of some sort. Now, the whole
humanity can be regarded as a society of this nature. The Yoga student should
consider the whole of humanity as one single organisation for the purpose of
framing his attitude towards others. Patanjali takes his stand on human
relationships in general, which include the smaller forms of this relationship
such as family relationship and communal relationship. We need not separately
mention them, because humanity includes everything.

What is our attitude towards another
person? This we must try to understand within our mind everyday. When I see a
person, what do I think about him? We may not be analysing our mind in this way
everyday, because we are too busy with our daily routine of life. We run to the
shop, or go to the office to type something, or we have to do this or that
thing, and so we have no time to think in the above manner, namely, "What do I
think about this man?" But, it is necessary to think that. Because, even our
little typing, or writing an address in our office, has something to do with
our opinion about another person. It cannot be said that the latter is
irrelevant. The relevance of it may be known later on, when the time for it
comes. So, everything hangs on this, namely, "What is my general outlook to
things around me? What is the opinion that I hold about people around me?" This
is a type of analysis that we can conduct within ourselves. Do we hate
something? Do we have a prejudice against anything? If so, we must make a note
of it. "I curse this; I hate this; I would like to be rid of this person." When
feelings like these arise in the student of Yoga, he must make a note. And he
must ask himself, "Why do such emotions arise?"